O1A Decoding

The "O1A Decoding" library is a set of studio plugins designed to extract various standard mixes (such as stereo or 5.1) from first order ambisonic B-Format.

These aren't the plugins you're looking for, probably. If you are working with other O3A (third order ambisonic) plugins then you should normally use the O3A Decoding library rather than the O1A one.

The O1A Decoding plugins are designed for special uses where O1A material (legacy material or first order recordings) will not be converted to O3A. The plugins use the SN3D ambisonic convention and an injector plugin is provided to handle classic B-Format material (or first order FuMa).

These are ambisonic VST2 and AAX plugins
for macOS (10.7+) or Windows
(Win7+) running on 32bit/64bit Intel. They can be hosted in some Digital
Audio Workstations (DAWs) that can handle tracks with at least 4 channels.
Options include Reaper,
Pro Tools Ultimate,
Pyramix and Max/MSP. Not all plugins are supported in AAX.

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Highlights

Decoding 3D O1A Audio

If you're not sure of the difference between O1A and O3A, or what ambisonic decoding is, then please take a look at the O3A equivalent to this library. The O1A library is provided for those who are sure they want to work with the first order format, for instance because of legacy material or because of first order recordings that are not to be converted to third order. Normally, O1A is significantly less sharp than modern O3A.

If you wish to decode both first and third order material, for instance because of a combination of recordings and panned material, you can use the O1A and O3A Decoding libraries in parallel. The O1A and O3A decoders are carefully matched to give consistent results. However, it is often better to convert O1A material to O3A. Methods for converting O1A to O3A include the first order injector from the O3A Upmixers plugin library, the O3A Harpex Upsampler, or just mixing the O1A stream into the O3A directly.

You might also be interested in Rapture3D "Advanced",
which lets you set up large irregular custom layouts.
The plugins provided can be set to decode first, second or third order.

Multichannel Decoders

The decoders for surround sound layouts (5.1, 7.1, 7.1.2, 3D7.1, Auro-3D, IMAX,
22.2 and some others) have been built using the Rapture3D decoder
generator.

As with Rapture3D, three decoding methods are supported:

Basic - resilient, portable decoding.

Reconstruction - adds soundfield control. This is probably the closest to the "classic" dual-band decoding approach.

Tinted Reconstruction - adds HRTF processing.

Equivalent third order decoders are present in the O3A Decoding library.

Stereo Decoders

A simple stereo decoder is included, with two modes. An equivalent third order decoder is present in the O3A Core library.

Headphone Decoder

This decoder uses the Rapture3D's Amber
HRTF data set to produce
binaural 3D on headphones. This HRTF has been built using a
parameter-space average of a large number of heads to produce a
"standard" HRTF that works for many people.

An equivalent third order decoder is present in the O3A Decoding library.

Format Conversion

If you have material in classic ambisonic B-Format (also known as first order FuMa) this can be converted to the SN3D ambisonic convention used by the O1A plugins with the "O1A Injector - FuMa" plugin
included.

Plugin List

O1A Decoder - Mono

I/O: 4 in, 1 out

This plugin renders simple mono from 3D O1A mixes.

O1A Decoder - Stereo

I/O: 4 in, 2 out

This plugin renders robust stereo from 3D O1A mixes.

O1A Decoder - 5.1

I/O: 4 in, 6 out

This plugin renders 5.1 surround from 3D O1A mixes. The corner speakers can be set out in a square or at standard ITU angles.

Tech Requirements

Operating System

Supported versions of Microsoft Windows are Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. Supported versions of Apple macOS are 10.7 or later, Intel only. The VST plugins are available in 32bit or 64bit forms on both platforms (packaged as a Universal Binary on macOS). The AAX plugins are 64bit only.

VST Host

The VST plugins require a VST 2 host with shell plugin support.

These plugins do not work with all VST 2 hosts. They are multichannel plugins and so will not work on VST hosts that only handle stereo. Some of the plugins need large numbers of channels on each track. Check the individual plugins for the channel counts they need. Also note that not all VST 2 hosts can use shell plugins. In particular, at the time of writing shell plugins are not supported in Nuendo 8.

AAX Host

Due to channel and stem restrictions, not all plugins are supported in AAX. Please see the documentation for details.

PC Hardware

Please check your PC meets the following requirements:

Intel Pentium D CPU or better.

200MB of free disk space.

Internal network card.

Internet Connection Required

These plugins require an Internet Connection for license activation and verification. We don't really like this, but we can't think of a better way to discourage piracy! Please don't hack our code, it's taken a lot of effort to get it this far...

Successful license verification isn't required every time you use the software, but it is needed during installation and needs to succeed once every couple of weeks to keep the license fresh.

The license can be "revoked" to remove it from one machine so it can be moved on to another. You should also do this if you're updating your system in case the machine appears to have changed identity.